Hoe.



T. H. RUSISELL.l HOE.

APPLICATION FILED )UNE 7. l9i6.

LW Patented ]Dec. 5, 1916.

2,0 NVE-NTOR BY mJW/Jl,

ATTY:

UNIFIED FATFNT FFIQF. l

THOMAS H. RUSSELL, OF GENEVA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN FORK AND I-IOE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORIUORA'IION OF OHIO.

I-IOE.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 19106.

Application filed June 7, 1916. Serial No. 102,209.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, THOMAS II. RUSSELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Geneva, in the county of Ashtabula and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in I-Ioes, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a very simple and effective means for securing the blades of hoes or similar agricultural tools to their handles.

I-Ieretofore it has been customary, with certain classes of hoes, to secure the blade to the handle by means of a malleable casting riveted to the blade'. Such devices `have the disadvantage that the blade sometimes comes loose from the casting; the casting sometimes breaks, and the construction is comparatively expensive.

My invention provides a staple which eX- tends through openings in the blade, the tines of the staple being brought together on the inner side of the blade and extending alongside of each other into the hoe handle. rIhe staple is preferably made of a flat bar, and the holes it occupies in the blade are rectangular and spaced some distance apart, and the legs of the staple are brought toward each other immediately on the inner face of the blade, so that the staple firmly and immovably grasps the blade. The legs of the staple have some tendency to spring apart at their free ends, and when they are driven into the end of the handle this tendency increases the hold on the handle.

My invention is hereinafter more fully explained in connection with the accompanying drawing, and the essential characteristics are set out in the claims.

In the drawing, Figure 1' is a perspective view of a weed hoe embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section of the same; Fig. 3 is an elevation, looking at the outer face of the blade; Fig. 4 is a view of the staple before it is put in place; Fig. 5 is a view of the same staple after it is put in place, this view showing a portion of the hoe blade with the staple extending through it; Fig. 6 is a cross section through the handle and staple as indicated by the line 6-6 on Fig. 2.

Designating the various parts by numerals, l0 indicates the hoe blade, 20 the handle,

the usual ferrule thereon, and 40 the staple.

In the form shown the blade 10 is a two pronged weeding hoe, but this is intended to be illustrative of any hoe blade, or blade of a similar agricultural tool. The blade is provided with holes 1l and 12, parallel with each other and some distance apart. These holes are preferably rectangular, as shown, and are of suiicient size to allow the legs of the staple to pass through them. The length of the rectangular opening is only slightly greater than the width of the staple.

The staple 4:0 is made of a flat steel bar bent into a U shape with a fiat intermediate portion 4l, and substantially parallel legs 42, as shown in Fig. 4L. The distance be tween the legs is substantially equal to the distance between the holes 11 and l2. After the legs of the staple have been passed through these holes, from the outer side of the blade, the legs are pinched together on the inner side of the blade. The pinching curves or bends thelegs inwardly, as shown at 43, and causes them to lie for a short distance in contact with the inner face of the blade, thus firmly and rigidly locking the staple to the blade, so that there is no movement between them. The legs l2 on the staple, when the same is thus pinched to the blade, lie in contact with each other, or nearly so, and thus form a permanent shank for the hoe blade, adapted to be driven into a hole in the end of the handle.

The legs of the staple when it is mounted on the blade may naturally flare to some eX- tent, as shown in Fig. 5. rlhis tendency of the legs to spring slightly apart does not interfere with the shank being driven into the handle, while after the shank is in place, it has a firmer hold in the cavity of the handle.

I prefer to make the staple of bar steel, which is about twice as wide as it is thick, so that when the two legs of the staple lie against each other, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, they form a shank which is practically a square in cross section. It is to be understood, however, that the hole originally made in the handle may be cylindrical, as usual, the driving in of the staple legs converting this into a substantially square hole.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a blade, of a twolegged staple extending through it, said staple having at least one of its legs bent on the inner side of the blade to engage its inner 1 face, the two legs then extending alongside of each other away from the blade.

2. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination of a blade, a staple having its intermediate portion on the outer side of the blade and extending through said blade and having its legs broughtJ substantially together on the inner side of the blade, Vthe blade being thus firmly grasped by the staple both on its inner and outer face, and a handle which the legs of the staple occupy. I

3. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination, with a blade having two holes through it, of a. staple extending through said holes and having its legs bent toward each other immediately on the inner side of' the blade, said legs then projecting substantially parallel with each other to form a shank rigid with the blade.

4. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination oi' a blade having two rectangular holes through it, and a staple made of flat metal having its intermediate portion on the outer side of the blade and its legs passing through said holes, said legs being bent inwardly on the inner side ot' the blade immediately adjacent to the face thereof.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a hoe provided with a rigid shank consisting of a staple passed through openings in the hoe blade, the intermediate portion of the staple contacting with the outer face of the blade, and the legs of the staple being bent toward each other immediately adjacent to the inner face of the blade to pinch the blade between said inwardly bent portions and intermediate portion of the Y staple.

6. The combination, with a hoe blade having two parallel openings through it some distance apart, of Va staple consisting of a flat metal strip the width of which is approximately twice the thickness, said staple having an intermediate portion lying on the outside of the blade and contacting with it, the legs of the staple passing through said openings and then bent toward each other to engage the inner face of the blade for a short distance, said legs then bending into sub stantial parallelism and contact and thus adapted to lill a substantially square-cavity. 7. The combination of a sheet metal blade having two approximately rectangular openings through it, a handle having an opening in itsend, a ferrule onthe handle, and a staple extending through the opening in the blade and bent inwardly on the inner face thereol.`I and having its two legs brought substantially together, said two legs extending through an opening in the end of the ferrule occupying a cavity in the handle.

8. ln an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination, with a handle and a blade, of a two-legged fastening device having an intermediate portion on the outside of the blade and its legs passing through said blade and bent on the inner side thereof to clamp the blade, said fastening device then engaging the handle.

9. The con'ibination, with a handle having a single hole in its end, of a blade having two holes through it, and a staple having its intermediate portion on thel outer side ot the blade and passing through said two holes and bent on the inner side of the blade and having both its legs occupying said single hole.

l0. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination with a handle having a hole in its end, a blade having two holes spaced apart so that the distance lrom the top of one hole to the bottom of the other is greater than the corresponding distance across the hole in the handle, and a staple having its intermediate portion on the outer side ol the blade and its legs passing through.

the holes therein, said staple being bent on the inner side of the blade to bring its legs close together, said legs occupying the hole in the handle.

l1. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination of a blade and a fastening device having a portion on the outer side of the blade and having legs extending through the blade, at least one ol said legs being bent toward the other on the inner side of the blade, and the legs then proj ecting substantially parallel with each other and away Jfrom the blade.

l2. In an agricultural tool of the character described, the combination with a sheet metal blade having two approximately rectangular openings through it some distance apart, and a staple substantially rectangular in cross section and having its intermediate portion on the outer side of the blade and its legs extending through the openings, said staple being bent on the inner side ol the blade to engage the same and being also bent to bring the projecting legs of the staple into substantial parallelism and in position to occupy an opening in a handle for the tool.

ln testimony whereof, I hereunto allix my signature.

THOMAS H. RUSSELL.

Copies of this patent'may be .obtained for five Vcents each` by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

' Y Washington, D. C, 

